IN the first case of its kind in Scotland, a Judge yesterday ordered
that a convicted drugs dealer forfeit assets of #98,966.
The order by Lord Sutherland at the High Court in Edinburgh may mean
that Mrs Mary McLean will have to sell the #140,000 home in Giffnock,
Glasgow, where she lives with her three children.
Ian McLean, 39, was jailed for eight years at the High Court in
Airdrie last August after being found guilty of being concerned in the
supply of cannabis with a street value of #750,000.
Two other accused were also jailed for eight years and a 17-year-old
youth sent to a young offenders' institution for four years after being
convicted on the same charge.
The gang was caught after a police surveillance operation during which
they were seen unloading boxes of cannabis into an industrial estate
unit in Stonehouse, Lanarkshire, in February last year.
At the hearing at the High Court in Airdrie, it was alleged that the
amount of the drug seized was the equivalent of one and a half million
reefers.
Under the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1987 the Crown can apply to
a Judge for a court order to claw back cash it believes has been gained
illegally through drug trafficking.
The burden of proof is on the convicted trafficker to show to the
satisfaction of the court that the cash pinpointed by the Crown is not
the result of trafficking.
During a three-day hearing before Lord Sutherland at the High Court in
Edinburgh the Crown detailed financial transactions of McLean's dating
back to 1988, alleging that they were the result of drug dealings.
Issuing his decision yesterday, Lord Sutherland said there was
evidence of substantial sums of cash being being transferred to and from
the accused in circumstances which were unusual.
This included #25,000 found by police in a jeep being driven by Mrs
McLean.
The Judge ruled that McLean had realisable property of #98,966 and
ordered a confiscation order in that amount. He gave McLean six months
to pay.
This is the first case of its kind in Scotland to be ruled on by a
Judge. In previous cases an agreement has been reached between the drug
dealer and the Crown.
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